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Who decides if a word is derogatory?

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Gus

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Jun 14, 2013, 4:11:02 PM6/14/13
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"... [NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote] the name Redskins was never
meant to denigrate or offend Native Americans, and "represented a positive
meaning distinct from any disparagement that could be viewed in some other
context."

The letter also cited recent approval of the name by two American Indians,
and argued that "Redskins" acts as "a unifying force":

For the team's millions of fans and customers, who represent one of
America's most ethnically and geographically diverse fan bases, the name is
a unifying force that stands for strength, courage, pride and respect.

That the name's negative racial connotations continues to be a subject of
debate is curious, to be kind. While for Goodell the name "Redskins" may
stand for the "strength, courage, pride and respect" of the men who wear the
team uniform, the origins of the word are much more complicated and
disturbing.

The Oxford Dictionary, which notes that word is "dated" and "offensive,"
traces the term to the 17th century use of vermilion face and body paint by
the Algonquin and Delaware tribes. However, it has long been argued by
scholars and activists that it is specific slang for the blood-red scalps of
American Indian peoples butchered by white settlers and bounty hunters, and
later sold or traded as currency. Suzan Shown Harjo of the Morning Star
Institute, an indigenous-rights organization, told the Daily Beast in 2009
that "in some cases male scalps could be bought for 80 cents, women for 60
[cents], and children for even less. This term describes a heinous act."

In an open letter to the Redskins owner published Thursday, Nation sports
editor Dave Zirin quotes Harjo:

"For most Native Americans, there's no more offensive name in English.
That non-Native folks think they get to measure or decide what offends us is
adding insult to injury."

In their complaint late last month, ten members of Congress argued that
"Native Americans throughout the country consider the term 'redskin' a
racial, derogatory slur akin the 'N-word' among African Americans or the
'W-word' among Latinos."

ESPN host Michael Wilbon reiterated that position on Wednesday's edition of
Pardon the Interruption, saying that what Goodell did was "gutless" and that
he "sounds like a fool." That said, 79% of respondents to a May poll by the
Associated Press believed that the Redskins should keep their name.
Columnist Michael Tomasky was unimpressed, writing that "all [the poll]
means is that 79 percent of Americans need a history lesson."

In that same June 1 post in The Daily Beast, Tomasky highlighted the
background of the man who chose the team name: former Redskins owner George
Preston Marshall, reputed to be one of the most notorious racists in
American sports history (a "leading bigot," per the late Washington Post
sportswriter Shirley Povich). Marshall resisted integrating his squad longer
than any other NFL team; he famously said that "we'll start signing Negroes
when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites." And as Tomasky notes,
the former owner indicated in his will that the posthumous foundation set up
in his name should not direct funds to "any purpose which supports or
employs the principle of racial integration in any form."

Snyder said in May that he "will never change the name of the team.it's that
simple. NEVER-you can use caps."

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/06/13/nfl-commissioner-defends-redskins-team-name-in-letter-to-congress/

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Alan J Rosenthal

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Jun 14, 2013, 7:57:00 PM6/14/13
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Tim <not...@someisp.net> writes:
>Who are the deciders for the degrogatoritiveness of words?

Your momma is. Everyone I know visits her to ask her opinion of
grogatoritivness, since they know from experience that she's so
accommodating in many other ways.

Gus

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Jun 14, 2013, 8:39:42 PM6/14/13
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"Tim" <not...@someisp.net> wrote in message
news:f86nr89rv7dgo2spj...@4ax.com...

> A couple of Caucasians I know recently approved
> the use of honky and cracker and argued that those
> terms act as a unifying force.
>
> Good question. Who are the deciders for the
> degrogatoritiveness of words?

I like the band Cracker, very much.

I've never understood sports teams taking the names of some indigenous
population that was defeated, decimated and dehumanized. Whether racist
sounding or not. It seems in the last few decades there haven't been any
new controversial sports names. Though when I lived in Denver, a few didn't
like naming the baseball team after a geological formation.

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Gus

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Jun 15, 2013, 9:42:57 PM6/15/13
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"Tim" <not...@someisp.net> wrote in message
news:fngnr8l78h2j02ktv...@4ax.com...
> It's because they thought they were cool, Gus. It
> was certainly not to disparage them. Indian
> warriors were very cool; they lost the war because
> of technological and numerical disadvantages
> beyond their control and the fact that they had
> little immunity to old world pathogens, it wasn't
> because of any lack of badassery. Sports teams
> like to project badassery.
> --
> Tim



Then why isn't Cleveland, the Cleveland Leroy Browns? How do you explain
the SD Chargers, NO Saints, Miami Dolphins, Pittsburg Penguins, Utah Jazz,
NY Mets, Boston Red Sox, Toledo Mud Hens, etc... None of those sound very
"badass"

Bob

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Jun 16, 2013, 12:52:10 AM6/16/13
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On Jun 14, 4:11 pm, "Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:

> The Oxford Dictionary, which notes that word is "dated" and "offensive,"
> traces the term to the 17th century use of vermilion face and body paint by
> the Algonquin and Delaware tribes. However, it has long been argued by
> scholars and activists that it is specific slang for the blood-red scalps of
> American Indian peoples butchered by white settlers and bounty hunters, and
> later sold or traded as currency.

I'm betting it just came from the fact they have red skin.

bill van

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Jun 16, 2013, 2:48:05 AM6/16/13
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In article
<066e8820-caf4-4f62...@g8g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>,
I have been in the presence of thousands of descendants of North
American aboriginal people, and not one of them had red skin.

Copper-toned comes a little closer, especially for natives at the time
of the Europeans arriving, when they spent much more time outdoors than
their descendants do now. But tan comes closer still. Red, not at all.

bill
Message has been deleted

art...@yahoo.com

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Jun 16, 2013, 11:50:29 AM6/16/13
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On Saturday, June 15, 2013 9:42:57 PM UTC-4, Gus wrote:

, Boston Red Sox, Toledo Mud Hens, etc... None of those sound very
>
> "badass"


Red Sox are bad ass when the red is due to blood. Just ask Curt Schilling...

Someone paid over 90K for that

http://tinyurl.com/lvkplaw

Les Albert

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Jun 16, 2013, 12:08:46 PM6/16/13
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Bob <rob...@bestweb.net> wrote:
> On Jun 14, 4:11 pm, "Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:

>> The Oxford Dictionary, which notes that word is "dated" and "offensive,"
>> traces the term to the 17th century use of vermilion face and body paint by
>> the Algonquin and Delaware tribes. However, it has long been argued by
>> scholars and activists that it is specific slang for the blood-red scalps of
>> American Indian peoples butchered by white settlers and bounty hunters, and
>> later sold or traded as currency.

> I'm betting it just came from the fact they have red skin.




Here is an interesting article titled, "A Linguist's Alternative
History of 'Redskin' " - http://tinyurl.com/27ukkl

According to one researcher:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Reporting his findings in the European Review of Native American
Studies, Goddard noted that the first appearance of the word was long
thought to have occurred in a 1699 letter written by "Samuel Smith,"
quoted in a 1900 memoir by his descendant, Helen Evertson Smith,
titled "Colonial Days & Ways."

"My father ever declardt there would not be so much to feare iff ye
Red Skins was treated with suche mixture of Justice & Authority as
they cld understand," the purported letter said. Another part of the
letter is quoted in the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary as the
etymological origin of "redskin."

http://tinyurl.com/27ukkl
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Les






Hactar

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Jun 16, 2013, 12:08:57 PM6/16/13
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In article <billvan-6C0610...@news.shawcable.net>,
White people aren't white, black people aren't black. Relative color and
exaggeration seem to be what's important.

--
-eben QebWe...@vTerYizUonI.nOetP royalty.mine.nu:81
LIBRA: A big promotion is just around the corner for someone
much more talented than you. Laughter is the very best medicine,
remember that when your appendix bursts next week. -- Weird Al

BillTurlock

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Jun 16, 2013, 2:01:24 PM6/16/13
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On Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:08:57 -0400, ebenZ...@verizon.net (Hactar)
wrote:

>
>White people aren't white, black people aren't black. Relative color and
>exaggeration seem to be what's important.

And "Flesh"-colored Crayolas are not represenative of a skin color,
pretty much everybody has the same color flesh.

Gus

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Jun 16, 2013, 2:34:02 PM6/16/13
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"Hactar" <ebenZ...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:ph419a-...@pc.home...

> White people aren't white, black people aren't black.

You've never seen Julian Assange, or Idi Amin?

Gus

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Jun 16, 2013, 2:37:30 PM6/16/13
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<art...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e33b3c12-4c70-49a4...@googlegroups.com...
> On Saturday, June 15, 2013 9:42:57 PM UTC-4, Gus wrote:
>
> , Boston Red Sox, Toledo Mud Hens, etc... None of those sound very
>>
>> "badass"
>
>
> Red Sox are bad ass when the red is due to blood. Just ask Curt
> Schilling...

Then they should be the Boston Bloods. I would not want to go to a game
when they played the LA Crips.

Hactar

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Jun 16, 2013, 4:36:51 PM6/16/13
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Racial categories are fuzzy at best. The whole concept of "race" is
sucky, ill-defined, and should be abandoned IMO. However, calling a
group "red" is just as valid as calling a group "white".

paulydak

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Jun 17, 2013, 9:40:40 PM6/17/13
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Maybe I should change the subject line...?



On Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:39:42 -0400, "Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:

>"Tim" <not...@someisp.net> wrote in message
>news:f86nr89rv7dgo2spj...@4ax.com...
>
>I like the band Cracker, very much.

They, and, um, Shakespeare's Sister, no, um, wait, the Cattellmann's
Lamment, damn, no, um, Out tha Woodz Witha Buncha Doodz, that's not it
either, shit...


Vamper Can Beethovern! ThatsIt!

They'se gonna be here-abouts next month, you could come out. It's
free! And on the beach!

--

Pauly-prolly teh only one I'll go to this year

Dover Beach

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Jun 18, 2013, 9:02:14 AM6/18/13
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paulydak <I...@home.sleepin> wrote in
news:k7evr8pc532o39hh5...@4ax.com:

> Vamper Can Beethovern! ThatsIt!
>
> They'se gonna be here-abouts next month, you could come out. It's
> free! And on the beach!
>

On the beach? That seems like it would make for terrible acoustics.

Gus

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Jun 18, 2013, 10:27:36 AM6/18/13
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"paulydak" <I...@home.sleepin> wrote in message
news:k7evr8pc532o39hh5...@4ax.com...
I would love to see them. I have seen Cracker 2 or 3 times.... A few years
ago, they were here giving a free Wednesday night concert on the Waterfront.
I rode my bike down, and they got on stage; were warming up, tuning. Then
this storms starts coming over the horizon. Very ominous... They said they
were going to have to wait for the storm to blow over... 10 minutes later
the storm is raging: wind, rain, crap flying around. Another 30 minutes
went by while I waited under the viaduct. By then most the crowd had left
even though the storm had passed. Then 10 minutes later I see the tour bus
drive slowly off... Best concert I almost saw!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbN_jhkWlU4




Gus

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Jun 18, 2013, 11:16:52 AM6/18/13
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"Dover Beach" <moon.b...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:XnsA1E34787814E6mo...@130.133.4.11...
> paulydak <I...@home.sleepin> wrote in
> news:k7evr8pc532o39hh5...@4ax.com:
>
>> Vamper Can Beethovern! ThatsIt!
>>
>> They'se gonna be here-abouts next month, you could come out. It's
>> free! And on the beach!
>>
>
> On the beach?


I tried to read that novel, but it was just too slow for me. I kept
thinking: just get to the end already!

Snidely

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Jun 19, 2013, 1:38:38 AM6/19/13
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Tuesday, Gus quipped:
I read it. Fairly quickly. I think I was in college at the time. I
haven't seen the movie, but there were some stills from it in the
paperback edition.

That's the only Nevil Shute I have read, except maybe excerpts in
magazine articles ... those would be from his airplane stories. Or
maybe I just read _about_ excerpts from his airplane stories.

I have not read any of his technical writings, either.

/dps

--
"This is all very fine, but let us not be carried away be excitement,
but ask calmly, how does this person feel about in in his cooler
moments next day, with six or seven thousand feet of snow and stuff on
top of him?"
_Roughing It_, Mark Twain.


bobg

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Jun 19, 2013, 6:08:10 AM6/19/13
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On Friday, June 14, 2013 4:11:02 PM UTC-4, Gus wrote:
<snip>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uUiCL3QzpU

Lesmond

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Jun 20, 2013, 3:36:11 AM6/20/13
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On Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:27:36 -0400, Gus wrote:

>"paulydak" <I...@home.sleepin> wrote in message
>news:k7evr8pc532o39hh5...@4ax.com...
>> Maybe I should change the subject line...?
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:39:42 -0400, "Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:
>>
>>>"Tim" <not...@someisp.net> wrote in message
>>>news:f86nr89rv7dgo2spj...@4ax.com...
>>>
>>>I like the band Cracker, very much.
>>
>> They, and, um, Shakespeare's Sister, no, um, wait, the Cattellmann's
>> Lamment, damn, no, um, Out tha Woodz Witha Buncha Doodz, that's not it
>> either, shit...
>>
>>
>> Vamper Can Beethovern! ThatsIt!
>>
>> They'se gonna be here-abouts next month, you could come out. It's
>> free! And on the beach!

My God. They're still around? I have a couple of albums...vinyl.

But they were somehow involved with Shakespeare's Sister, right? Memory old
and hazy.

--
If there's a nuclear winter, at least it'll snow.



Lesmond

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Jun 20, 2013, 3:36:53 AM6/20/13
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Silly. Beach concerts are the best.

paulydak

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Jun 20, 2013, 3:17:23 PM6/20/13
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Really? That's a real group? I thought I was makin' it up, but it
musta popped outta the memz somehow or another. I'll be damned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespears_Sister

If you had asked me I'd've said "Never heard of 'em."

Anyway, it's Cracker/CVB, I figure probably one'll do the first show
and the other the second.

http://www.beachboardwalk.com/concerts/

The Tubes were great last year. I got mistaken for Fee at one point,
it was a little scary.

--

Pauly-cuz I knowed all the words and how they wuz sung

paulydak

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Jun 20, 2013, 3:20:28 PM6/20/13
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On 18 Jun 2013 13:02:14 GMT, Dover Beach <moon.b...@mail.com>
wrote:
The best spot is directly in front of the stage. But then you can't
see the band. Somehow sometimes that doesn't really matter.

Up by the mixing board by the roller coaster is kinda ok, but then
you're not down on the beach, and the roller coaster's loud.

So yeah, mostly the acoustics suck, but yer on the beach at a concert!

--

Pauly-freezing yer ass off!

Gus

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Jun 20, 2013, 4:11:13 PM6/20/13
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"paulydak" <I...@home.sleepin> wrote in message
news:0nk6s8lo30jtsmp5a...@4ax.com...

> Anyway, it's Cracker/CVB, I figure probably one'll do the first show
> and the other the second.
>
> http://www.beachboardwalk.com/concerts/


is the Big Dipper in Santa Cruz?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbN_jhkWlU4

Gus

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Jun 20, 2013, 4:17:40 PM6/20/13
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"paulydak" <I...@home.sleepin> wrote in message
news:cal6s89im39o65g45...@4ax.com...
The internet has better acoustics, but it's true it's not as scenic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=XitAs6fAjkI&feature=endscreen

Lesmond

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Jun 20, 2013, 6:52:52 PM6/20/13
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Oooh! See Blue Oyster Cult, too. And I would personally see The Gin
Blossoms.

>
>The Tubes were great last year. I got mistaken for Fee at one point,
>it was a little scary.

Hey, Fee is in great shape for a guy his age.

paulydak

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Jun 22, 2013, 7:08:22 PM6/22/13
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On Thu, 20 Jun 2013 18:52:52 -0400 (EDT), "Lesmond"
Yeah, so, it's sorta lookin' like I won't be seeing any of them,
unless somebody comes to visit, because I work 2nd shift on Fridays,
and they're done playing by 10pm. I can get coverage at work, but I
bat clean-up on Fridays, so it's more of a pain than other days to
take off.
>
>>
>>The Tubes were great last year. I got mistaken for Fee at one point,
>>it was a little scary.
>
>Hey, Fee is in great shape for a guy his age.

Yeah, me too also too, but it was the crowd that was gathering around
me and being really loud and boisterous that was a little weird, I was
worried I'd get hurt or something when they figured out I wasn't him.

--

Pauly-had no mike

Lesmond

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Jun 22, 2013, 9:55:03 PM6/22/13
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You're a rock star!
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